1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method for data processing in a mail-shipping system with a postage meter machine as well as to an arrangement for implementing the method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In modern offices, producing documents such as letters ensues at the personal computer. The printed documents are manually placed in envelopes or are automatically stuffed in envelopes in a mail station with an envelope-stuffing system. Such mail stations also have postage meter machines available for use.
A postage meter machine is used for franking postal matter and can be equipped with a control unit, a memory arrangement, an input stage, a modem or other data reception means, an input/output control stage, a display and a printer. For example, a stationary print head prints the franking impression column-by-column with simultaneous conveying of the letter past (beneath) the print head. A printing width of approximately 1" is thereby achieved.
In addition to the manual entry of a postage amount into the postage meter machine, the postage is currently often automatically calculated on the basis of stored postage fee schedule tables. All quantities that define the postage such as weight, format and shipping class must be made available to the postage calculating module for this purpose. To this end, the weight is determined by a postage scale, whereas format and shipping class are manually entered.
High-performance franking systems include a dynamic scale. This measures the weight of the letter, with the transport motion of the letter from a delivery point (automatic separating unit) to the postage meter machine being uninterrupted. The determined weight value is converted into a postage value and leads to a corresponding setting of the postage printing means in the postage meter machine. These systems avoid the disadvantage of additional processing time but are very expensive to purchase and require intensive maintenance. Moreover, changes in the shipping class must still be manually entered, which always interrupts the automatic sequence.
If the postage meter machine contains a postage calculator, weight information are entered into the calculator by the scale. European Application 566 225, discloses a method for data entry into a postage meter machine is already disclosed for such a system that employs chip cards or a cellular communication network in order to enter fee schedule changes. Such chip cards, which have a number of non-volatile memories or, respectively, separately accessible memory areas and a microprocessor, are successively plugged into a single write/read unit in order to serially transmit data representing different information into the postage meter machine. The data stored in the postage meter machine can then be accessed during operation thereof.
The postage meter machine checks whether the fee schedule table data of the carrier stored in the scale are still valid and automatically decides whether a reloading or, respectively, updating is required. The updating preferably ensues by chip card after every turn-on, dependent on current criteria. Such criteria are present, for example, when data from a clock/date module that are called at the beginning of use but have been modified due to the passage of time are deemed by the microprocessor to require a reloading. A reloading or updating, however, is implemented only for one mail carrier and there is no possibility of selecting between competing mail couriers.
Such a postage meter machine is a stand-alone postage meter machine and is not provided for integration into a mail-processing system with a number of other devices. The piece of mail must first be placed on the scale before it is supplied to the postage meter machine. A great deal of manual work continues to be necessary in the mail center. Moreover, for operation of this machine, a comfortable, and thus expensive, user interface (keyboard and picture screen) is required in the postage meter machine for clear text presentation of the print format.
If the postage calculating module is located in the scale, the calculated postage amount is either displayed and manually entered into the postage meter machine, or is electronically entered into the postage meter machine as a dataset.
These various versions of the automatic postage calculation share the need for a postage scale. The postage scale represents an additional investment for the user and the scale manipulation also requires additional time.
European Patent 498 955 discloses a method and an arrangement for sending electronically stored letter contents, whereby the scale can be eliminated because the postal matter contains only one insert that always has the same weight. The pieces of mail contain chip cards that are placed in addressed envelopes. A franking tape is printed in the postage meter machine or the addressed envelope is franked before the envelope stuffing. This known arrangement and method, however, does not afford the possibility of supplying the mailings to the postage mater machine unordered with several inserts or different inserts, without again having to utilize a scale for determining the weight. A personal computer serves as an input unit for entering the shipping data into the postage meter machine, which undertakes the accounting.
European Application 493 948 discloses a coupling to a personal computer in order to use this as an input means. The postage fees are stored in various registers that are allocated to various authorities, however, this publication does not describe whether and how these authorities are selected by the customer or how an allocation ensues. This specific solution for a postage meter machine stores the debiting data for various services. A disadvantage of this known system is the outlay arising due to the need for a separate interface between the postage meter machine and a work station used as the input means. A separate printer is connected to the separate interface in order to print out debiting (accounting) reports.
All of the aforementioned, individual solutions for postage meter machines thus require an expensive, separate user interface, or a coupling to a personal computer in order to employ the user interface (keyboard and picture screen) thereof.
German OS 39 03 718 also discloses a coupling to a personal computer in order to print out department-related accounting data via a separate printer. A disadvantage is that a control unit must be connected as a separate device between the individual devices such as the scale, the postage meter machine and the personal computer. The employment of manually plugged chip cards in order to enter accounting reports into the personal computer, moreover, represents an impediment for automation of the production of accounting reports.
European Application 600 749 discloses a mail processing machine with a bar code user interface. Commands for controlling the mail processing machine are entered via a bar code reader pen (wand). This, however, requires a catalog having a list of bar code commands, and manual sampling thereof. A manual positioning of a reader pen and sampling for entering commands reduces the input dependability as well as an assumption of responsibility on the part of the user, i.e., one must assume that the user would not undertake any manipulation with fraudulent intent. As a guard against misuse, no commands that could be misused with fraudulent intent can be found in the list. An entry of unlisted commands effecting a falsification, i.e., a correspondingly generated bar code, however, cannot be prevented. Most steps have been taken to insure that the sequence of the bar code inputs can only ensue according to the sequence of pieces of mail supplied.
German OS 40 18 166 discloses that frankings and/or an address printing be undertaken with a franking module integrated in a personal computer. To that end, the franking module is arranged in a slot of a drive insert of a personal computer. Such a solution, however, limits the universal utilization of the personal computer as a result of the occupation of the slot of the drive insert and, moreover does not accommodate other postal matter conveyor means for other envelope formats and is therefore mainly suitable for standard mail in offices with low to moderate mail volume. A number of personal computers equipped in this way would have to be utilized in an office having a higher mail volume. The integration of the franking module in the personal computer, however, is more expensive than a solution in which a commercially available personal computer and a commercially available postage meter machine are coupled to one another via a data line.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,506 discloses a mail processing system with a number of devices that operate in a PC-supported manner and already have connected postage meter machines available. The individual devices carry out functions for recompilation of the letters, namely in the sequence of the postal area codes of their addresses. The aforementioned functions includes opening letters, sensing specific locations, possibly reprinting the letter or comments, folding, envelope-stuffing, postage calculation and sorted deposit or, bundling. Some public mail carriers offer discounts for postal matter pre-sorted in this way. This method is complicated insofar as it may require another printout of the letter. Installation of a high-performance computer is required in the mail station, which must be operated by appropriately trained personnel.
German OS 38 08 178 discloses a mail processing system with a first computer that produces the documents on fan-fold paper and that is in communication with a second computer that controls devices in the mail station. The communication is achieved by markings printed on the document and, by a communication element. The envelope stuffing, addressing and franking of the mail can be indirectly controlled by a printed coding identifying the respective piece of mail. Parameter values that are employed for controlling the envelope stuffing, addressing and franking of the mail are allocated to these identification codings in a data bank. The data bank is connected to the second computer to which the respective identification coding of the piece of mail is communicated via a connected sensor means. The address printing in the mail station is emphasized in this document as an advantage in view of the easy, subsequent modification of, among other things, the addressing of stuffed envelopes, and thus avoiding a bill-like appearance of the envelopes that is associated with window envelopes.
Such window envelopes are allegedly not opened by some recipients because they may contain bills. Apart from the fact that it would be senseless not to open window envelopes because they may contain bills, since cost-increasing reminders would be delivered anyway to such companies or persons, window envelopes nonetheless are not favored by many mailers. This disfavor against printing an address when preparing the letter at a location which will be visible through an envelope window, and against employing window envelops per se, leads to the aforementioned equipping of the mail station with complicated technology. When settings must be undertaken in the mail station in order to utilize beneficial services of a different private carrier, however, even the aforementioned equipping of the mail station with complicated technology still proves inadequate because correspondingly more highly qualified employees are then required. The weight and the postage amount are identified before resending postal matter. In conjunction with the increasing proliferation of private carriers competing with one another, beneficial special fee schedules for transport services and service performances related thereto are also being increasingly offered. A reduction of the weight by reducing the number of inserts for the envelope often suffices for meeting the prerequisites for making use of such special fee schedules. A great deal of redundancy and design latitude in the informational offering exists in direct marketing. For example, the format, the number of lines, letter height, etc., could be optimized for cost reasons. The number of pages could also be reduced when preparing the letter. The employees in the mail station, however, are not in a position to undertake such entries or modifications in the data bank. The employees of the mail station would then have to instruct the other employees whose produce the letter contents, or these mail station employees would have to make such changes themselves. Such a procedure, however, would only lead to unnecessary delays in the mail processing.